The BART police are about to commit a crime. They are about to evict some 25 homeless people from homes they have resided in for the last nine months. For no reason.
For nine months a stable, peaceful, law-abiding community of homeless people has resided at the HERE/THERE space just north of the Oakland/Berkeley border
On Saturday afternoon BART police put up notices demanding that they remove themselves from HERE/THERE area within 72 hours and threatening to confiscate their possessions.
(More details here: https://www.indybay.org/
What you can do (details below):
– Contact your BART Rep
– Show up at the Eviction Resistance Party on Tuesday
– Testify to the BART Board
1. YOU HAVE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES ON THE BART BOARD. CONTACT THEM.
STARTING MONDAY MORNING, please call, email, Facebook and tweet at them to let them know how strongly you disprove of this intended eviction.
Rebecca Saltzman is the Chair of the BART Board and represents parts of Berkeley and Oakland.
Her contact information is
Email: Rebecca.Saltzman@bart.gov
Twitter: @rebeccaforBART
Phone: 510 464-6095
Lateefah Simon is the BART Board Director whose district the encampment lies in. Her contact information is
Email: info@lateefahforbart.com, press@lateefahforbart.com
Twitter: @lateefahSimon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Phone: (510) 464-6095, 628-333-9553, 415-636-6581
You can find other BART Board representatives here and BART Board district maps:
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod
A few talking points:
– Winter (and the rain) is coming.
– There is a Hepatitis A outbreak in California spreading among homeless people who have no access to sanitation – the HERE/THERE camp has such access.
– They’ve been there for nine months. There is no rush or reason to do this immediately. Let’s sit down and talk this through. Put a moratorium on the eviction action.
– BART police have more important things to do.
2. SHOW UP AT THE EVICTION RESISTANCE PARTY, AT HERE/THERE, TUESDAY, LATE AFTERNOON UNTIL WHENEVER.
See https://www.indybay.org/
3. THERE IS A BART BOARD MEETING AT 5:00 PM on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26th at 5:00 PM.
Item 3 on the Agenda is Public Comment (An opportunity for members of the public to address the Board on matters under their jurisdiction and not on the agenda).
If you can make it this would be an idea time to vocalize your opposition to BART contemplating or having already done their threatened eviction.
The BART Board Room is located in the Kaiser Center 20th Street Mall, Third Floor, 344 20th St., Oakland, CA. Directions to the BART Board Room: https://www.bart.gov/sites/
–Ruthie Sakheim
